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 Tawny Owl
 Strix aluco

Key facts

Conservation listings: Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable) (BiE04)
UK: green (BoCC3)
Long-term trend: UK, England: shallow decline
Population size: 50,000 pairs in 2005 (APEP13: Freeman et al. 2007a)

http://www.bto.org/birdtrends2010/images/tawow1TH300w.jpg

Status summary

As a nocturnal species, Tawny Owl is covered relatively poorly by the BTO's monitoring schemes. The pattern shown by CBC/BBS is a relatively stable one, however, in keeping with the longevity, sedentary behaviour, and slow breeding rate of this species. There has been a shallow downward trend in the index since the early 1970s. It may be relevant to this possible long-term decline that Gibbons et al. (1993) found evidence for a contraction of the species' UK range between the two atlas periods. The substantial improvements in nest success during the c.29-day egg stage could be linked to the declining impact of organochlorine pesticides, which were banned in the early 1960s. The numbers of fledglings per breeding attempt have increased steeply. Special post-breeding surveys of this species were conducted in autumn 2005 (click here), following methodology established by an earlier survey in 1989 (Percival 1990).


CBC/BBS UK graph


Population changes in detail


Demographic trends

Clutch graph
Brood graph

More on demographic trends